Skin Whitening Creams Do Not Land You A Job, Or Win Medals
Remember Renuka Shahane, who played Pooja the perfect bahu-bhabi, whose million-watt smile lit up the entire ‘Hum Aapke Hai Kaun’ mansion? Reams have been written about the film which, had made Renuka, the benchmark for actors in supporting roles, whose work had as much recall value as the leads.
The actor-director-TV host, is still setting benchmarks, and is one of the smartest voices on social media today. Where people update statuses, Renuka goes on to make statements on her Facebook page. She calls herself a ‘freelancer’ there but the opinions she shares often match up to the best editorials.
A case in point was her recent scathing critique of: “Those saccharine sweet "equal-equal" ads of Fair & Lovely or those that show fairness as the only USP required for securing honours for both men & women.”
Renuka’s pointed and witty take on ‘fairness’ creams which have advertisements minus any logic or scientific basis will make you want to squish every tube under a road roller. She urges people to use their own brains, and take stock of the global wins of Indian sportswomen, and men, who clearly must be our examples to follow, rather than any bleached model selling skin whiteners.
Newsflash: Skin Whitening Creams do not land you a dream job! Or help you win an Olympic medal, or scale the corporate ladder. Only hard work and skills do. In the words of Renuka Shahne: “PLEASE, PUHLEEEZ, PLIJJ take the time to sit yourselves in front of a huge tv set with internet, activate youtube & watch reruns of the performances of Sindhu, Sakshi, Srikanth, Dipa, Aditi Ashok, Babita, Tintu Lukka, Lalita Babar, Vinesh Phogat, Saina, Sania, Rohan Bopanna, Yogeshwar Dutt & all the other achievers from the Indian contingent to Rio. Basically get a reality check of what achievement means.”
And this one from the actor is something that has to be repeated ad nauseam: “Achievement is NOT for parents to look for a bridegroom the minute a daughter turns of "marriageable" age but for parents to give a daughter a pair of wings the day she's born.”
Renuka Shahne is one of the best examples of the kind strong voices we need to hear from the Indian film industry. Especially women from the industry. Meanwhile, the skin whitening cream manufacturers must revisit their product strategy.
What do you feel? Should skin whitening creams be made to put disclaimers on their packaging and advertisements? Please do share your opinions in the comments below.
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